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Ex-NFL tight end accidentally kills 3-year-old daughter

By: Des Bieler, The Washington PostApril 19, 2017 at 2:26 pm

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FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2010 file photo, Baltimore Ravens tight end Todd Heap does sit ups after the NFL football team's training camp in Westminster, Md. Police say Heap was behind the wheel of a truck when he accidentally struck his 3-year-daughter while moving the vehicle forward outside their home in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday, April 15, 2017. Officials say the girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Mesa police say impairment was not a factor. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Former Ravens tight end Todd Heap accidentally killed his three-year-old daughter Friday at his home in Mesa, Ariz. According to the Arizona Republic, police confirmed the tragic event, saying that the 37-year-old was moving his truck forward in his driveway and didn’t realize his daughter was in the path of the vehicle.

Police said she was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. According to authorities, Heap was not impaired, and an investigation into the incident is continuing.

Heap grew up in Mesa and starred at Arizona State before being selected in the first round of the 2001 draft by Baltimore, and he immediately played a memorable role in that team’s appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” He went to two Pro Bowls and is second all-time in receptions for the Ravens, and first in franchise history in touchdown catches with 41.

Heap played in Baltimore until his release in 2011, and he finished his career with two seasons with the Cardinals. In 2014, he was inducted into the Ravens’ Ring of Honor.

Heap, who has four other children with his wife, Ashley, had a pediatric center in Baltimore named after him in 2010. He pledged $1 million to the facility in 2007, and his charitable foundation has raised funds for sick and disadvantaged children.

In December 2015, he was asked by the Ravens’ website, “What makes Todd Heap smile?” He replied, “I just got done jumping on the trampoline with my two-year-old daughter, and it’s hard to get a bigger smile than that. … Family and all of the events we do, that regularly makes me smile.”